A teenage boy in Florida is facing manslaughter charges after police say he accidentally shot and killed two friends.
Joseph Blanco, 15, was hanging out with two of his friends at a home in Miami-Dade County on Monday evening. The trio were playing with a gun when the firearm discharged and a single bullet struck both 15-year-old Jose Villarreal III and 14-year-old Julio Labrada, according to Miami-Dade Police Department spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta.
The two teens died from their injuries on scene, Zabaleta said.
Blanco was taken into custody and charged with manslaughter, according to Zabaleta.
No other information was immediately available.
Villarreal was a student within the Miami-Dade County Public School system.
“Two lives lost and a third ruined — the tragic consequences that result from weapons being in the wrong hands,” Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning. “Guns should never be accessible to children.”
Labrada went to Keys Gate Charter School in Homestead, Florida, according to Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.
“The Keys Gate Charter family is deeply saddened by the loss of Julio Labrada, one of our eighth-grade students,” principal Corinne Baez said in a statement to WPLG. “Grief counselors are on site to help any students or staff who are struggling. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they go through this very difficult time.”
